How young ventriloquists are finding their voice

Teenagers Daisy (left) and Lucy (right) performed at a convention

The founder of a new convention for ventriloquists hoped he could inspire the next generation of performers.

Owen Reid organised the first UK Ventriloquist Convention in Milton Keynes which included lectures from Britain's Got Talent finalist Steve Hewlett and Rainbow & Muppet puppeteer Ronnie Le Drew.

"Years ago there used to be hundreds of ventriloquists, there used to be cabaret shows, they don't do that anymore so I'm trying to keep it alive by doing what we do now," he said.

"We got younger people here so they can learn and do it for us when us fossils disappear."

Owen Reid hoped to secure the future of professional ventriloquism

Lucy Blandford, 17, was inspired to become a ventriloquist after seeing a video online

"It really fascinated me because I didn't know anything about it so I wanted to learn more about it and now I'm here."

Daisy Lee, 14, has been performing with puppets for about a year and two months.

She said: "I found a puppet in my house and I practised with it in the car.

"I started watching Darci Lynne and she was my inspiration, I've been working on it ever since."

Lucy believed performing for her college helped with her confidence, although she admits some people her age can be "scared or creeped out" by ventriloquism.

Her new 14-year-old friend agreed and added: "Online there's lots of hate towards it, so I think it's something that needs to be more put out there like it was in the past.

"It needs to be seen as an amazing thing because it helps young people become confident and perform."

Performer Trish Dunn insisted ventriloquism was not dead

Master of ceremonies Trish Dunn is a dual US and UK citizen who lives in Norwich.

During the event she took to the stage with her puppet, Agnes, to give tips to make people's performances as funny as possible,

Ms Dunn has performed for 15 years and praised the event for offering learning opportunities to attendees.

She explained: "I hope we're creating a bunch of new ventriloquists to take on the next generation, I don't want people to think ventriloquism is dead because everything is high tech.

"It's an art and a skill that everybody loves and it should be around forever."